Tough Love
by Devilkid32
Summary: Amu has a cooking assignment that has to be done in pairs. What happens if her partner is her worst enemy. Will working together make things worst between them or better?
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Shugo Chara**

**Amu's point of view**

I woke up with a start from another dream less sleep to find that I'm sweating a little. Ever since the torturing started I could never sleep well again. I have been bullied by the same two people since the seventh grade, now I'm a sophomore in high school.

The first one is Ikuto Tsukiyomi. One of the most popular guys in school with indigo eyes and hair to match that I hate.

Then there's the other one that happens to be my next door neighbor, Kukai Souma. He is just Ikuto's shadow or right hand man.

I fell back on to my pillow and started staring up at the ceiling; dreading the moment my mother would yell up the stairs. I was close to falling back asleep when my mother yelled.

"Amu, time to wake up!" my mother yelled up the stairs. I rolled over in my bed and covered my head with my pillow. "You'll be late if you don't get up!" My mother tried again to wake me up.

I got out of bed and glared at the morning light coming through the window. I dragged my feet to the bathroom and took a long shower. I stood on the back of the shower wall for a long time just letting the water run over me while I think. _Why am I always the person that gets picked on? I don't do anything to make people mad at me._ I finally put my thoughts to rest and stepped out of the shower. I brushed my teeth then headed back to my room.

I got dressed in my school uniform of a white button up shirt and a red plaid skirt. I brushed my hair and put the normal red 'x' clip in my hair. I walked down the stairs tying my red tie and sat down at the dining room table.

"Did you sleep well?" My mother asked giving me my breakfast. "Not really, I kept waking up. And I stayed up late staring at the ceiling." I said eating part of my breakfast. "At least you slept, start getting ready for school it's almost time for you to leave." Right when she said that the doorbell rang. "Well I guess Tadase is here already. Have a great day." She said giving me a short hug.

I put my shoes on and walked to the door to greet Tadase. "Good morning!" I said with a bright smile. "Good morning, Amu." Tadase said. I tried to look past Tadase to see if Ikuto and Kukai were outside waiting. "Don't worry they left earlier." Tadase said confirming Amu's suspicions.

"Why did they leave so early?" I asked walking out the door with Tadase. "I don't know but be careful today, okay?" Tadase said giving me a concerned look. "I know," I said walking across the street.

We talked about nothing all the way to school. We walked through the school doors just in time and like always Tadase walked me to my locker. When we got to my locker I stopped dead in my tracks.

On my locker were sticky notes on my locker that said things like _'__You're a whore.',__ '__Why don't you drop dead already?',_ and _'Your such an asshole'_. "Amu, are you okay?" Tadase asked putting his hand on my shoulder. "Yeah, I'm fine. Can you help me take this stuff down?' I asked trying to seem fine. I know Tadase didn't buy it but he still helped me.

After all the notes were down me and Tadase walked to home room. "Mr. Hotori and Miss. Hinamori you are both late." Are home room teacher, Mr. Amakawa, said. "Can we explain at the end of class?" Tadase asked speaking for the both of us. "Okay, stay after class. Both of you take your seats." Mr. Amakawa said getting back to the announcements.

I went through the rest of home room staring out the window. The bell rang signaling the end of home room. Me and Tadase stayed until everyone left the classroom, then we explained the story of why we were late.

"Amu, told you if anything like this happened again to tell me right away." Mr. Amakawa said looking at me angrily. "I was going to but I was still in shock of what happened. I still have what was on the notes in my head." I said trying not to look Mr. Amakawa in the eye. "Okay, tell me if you don't feel well anytime in the day, okay?" Mr. Amakawa said looking at the both of us.

"Alright," Me and Tadase said in unison. "I'll write you both passes to your next class." Mr. Amakawa said sitting down at his desk. "Tadase, where are you going?" Mr. Amakawa asked Tadase. "Literature," Tadase said simply.

Mr. Amakawa finished writing the passes and handed them to us. We walked out of home room and headed to our classes. I took my time walking down the corridor while looking out the endless hall of windows. I finally made it to my class and walked in.

"Hinamori, your late." My cooking teacher Mrs. Lulu looking up from her desk. I walked towards her and handed her my pass. "Okay, sit down." Mrs. Lulu said and returned to what she was doing.

I sat down next to my desk partner, Ikuto. I tried not to look at him or make any physical contact. "Hey Amu, did you like my present?" Ikuto asked emphasizing the word 'present'. "It was terrible, those notes couldn't be farther from the truth." I said putting my stuff on the table.

"Well, you better get used to it." Ikuto said with a smirk. "Why?" I asked confused. "Were partners for a class project." Ikuto said pointing to the whiteboard. I looked up at the board and saw that he was right.

'_Project due- May 25. You must create a country and create a dish from that country. You may use anything that represents your country to make an authentic dish of your own kind. You__ must __ work with your desk partner and you must work __together.'_

After I read that I thought I was going to be sick to my stomach. I groaned and put my head on the table and waited for the class to end.

**A/N I don't really know when I can update, but I can try for every week or so. Don't forget to review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N This chapter is mostly focused on Amu talking to her teacher about Ikuto. This chapter is also a little short.**

_There is no way I'm working with him. _

While I was sulking in my seat Mrs. Lulu passed out papers that had the information of the project. The class went by slowly and when it finally ended I jumped up from my seat and asked Mrs. Lulu all my questions.

"Mrs. Lulu?" I asked when the class room was finally empty.

"Yes, Amu what is it?" Mrs. Lulu responded looking up from her desk. "I don't think I can work well with Ikuto." I told Mrs. Lulu. She let out a sigh then explained everything. "There is a reason I sat you two at the same table. I think this little _feud _between you two needs to be forgotten." Mrs. Lulu said looking me straight in the eye. _Feud? There is no feud between us. I don't do anything to him._

"Okay, I can understand paring us up for that reason, but he has a record of not doing any of the work with a partner." I explained. "Well, that is a good reason for not wanting to work with him, but this could be something good for you two. Did you know that guys show their feelings for girls through teasing them? Maybe Ikuto is teasing you because he likes you but it got a little too much." Mrs. Lulu said with a smile. I couldn't help but blush at that statement and I turned my head.

_Yeah right, the school's most popular guy likes me? _"He teases me because he hates me," I told her with a slight laugh. Mrs. Lulu let out another sigh then looked at me again. "You never know Amu, guys hide their feelings very well. I know I'm playing match maker here but I think you two working together is going to work fine." She got up from her chair, walked over to me and patted me on the back.

There was a long silence in the room and I just wanted to leave. "I think I'm going to lunch now," I said desperately wanting to leave. I started to walk to the door but Mrs. Lulu called me back. "Amu, always stay optimistic. Don't let what others say about you get you down." Mrs. Lulu said with a serious face.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said giving a smile then finally walking away. Walking to lunch I couldn't help thinking about Mrs. Lulu's words. '_Maybe Ikuto is teasing you because he likes you but it got a little too much.'_

_If she thinks he likes me she is completely wrong. He's hated me since sixth grade. _I walked to my locker getting my things for my next classes and I noticed a stray note on my locker 'Just die already'.

I felt the tears starting to form in my eyes. I took the note off, walked to Ikuto's locker and stuck the note on there.

_I don't care how much you hate I'm not going anywhere. _I continued walking to the cafeteria with no thoughts in my mind.

**A/N I decided that I'll update every Friday if not any earlier. Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

I walked in to the cafeteria with my head held high. I got my food and walked over to where my friends were and sat down. Tadase and Utau were talking to each other, when I sat down they both looked at me.

"Amu, you're late again." Tadase said teasing me.

"Wow, that's everyone's favorite saying today." I said leaning on the table and rolling my eyes. " Amu, how many times were you late today?" Utau said chiming in to the conversation.

"Three times, why?" I said starting to eat my lunch. I wasn't hungry, but I just forced food into my mouth to avoid talking. I didn't swallow because the food here sucks. "No reason just wanted to know,"Utau said taking a bite of her salad.

Tadase and Utau were talking about something, I don't know I wasn't paying attention. I snapped out of my daze when I realized Utau was looking at me. "Amu, you need to swallow the food to eat." she snapped at me. I shook my head 'no'and kept the food in my mouth. "If you're not going to swallow than spit it out," Tadase said handing me a napkin. I gladly took the napkin and spit out the bite I took from my food.

"If you don't like the food stop getting it, " Tadase said. "I know but I'm hungry so I try to eat it." I said complaining. "Here," Utau took my hamburger off its plate and dumped some of her salad on it. Tadase took the other half of his sandwich and put it next the salad. "Thank you," I said smiling at both of them.

"Yeah, yeah. So, why were you late?" Utau asked me.

"Right, forgot to mention that you have a cooking assignment. It has needs to be done in pairs and you're paired up with your desk partner." I said reaching into my bag for the instructions.

I pulled out the paper and gave it to Tadase. "So what's so bad about your partner?" he said looking the paper over. "My partner is Ikuto," I told Tadase.

"What's so bad about working with my brother?" Utau asked me. She was glaring at me a little. I could tell she didn't like it when I talked bad about her brother.

"He's not as bad as people think he is." Utau continued.

"Yeah your right, he's terrible." I said with a smirk. Utau just laughed and walked towards me. She gave a light side hug then walked back to her side.

"Utau, can you get Ikuto to come over here. I need to talk to him." I said grumbling the last part. She didn't even respond she just got up and walked over to where he was sitting.

I watched her walk over to him and make a girl move out of her seat and sit down. "What do you need Ikuto for?" I turned around facing the right way to look at Tadase. "I just need to know when we can work on the project together." I said digging in my pile of junk for a pen and a notebook.

"Oh," I heard Tadase mumble. "Why do you want to know, jealous?" I said teasing him. A faint blush went on Tadase's face and I couldn't help laughing. But my laugh was cut short when Utau came back with Ikuto.

"What do you want?" Ikuto asked coldly. Utau sat down next to me again and Ikuto sat next to Tadase. "We need to set times of when we can work together." I said getting ready to write.

"Fine, you can walk home with me and we can start working tonight." Ikuto said with boredom in his voice. "I'll be waiting by the fence at the end of school."

"Okay, but can we stop by the store to get some supplies?" I asked knowing the answer would already be no.

"No," He said then walked away with his hands in his pockets.

I closed my notebook, put my pen in the spine and put it away. I looked at Tadase with a frown on my face. "Sorry I can't walk home with you today."

"Don't worry; I'll be fine walking home by myself for one day." Tadase said with a smile.

I can tell he isn't happy about this, but doesn't want to show it.

"Come on, the bell is going to ring soon." Utau said gathering her stuff. As if on cue the bell rung. I quickly gathered all of my things and headed for my next class.


	4. Chapter 4

The day seemed like it would never end. Every class I had seemed longer than the last one.

When the school day somehow managed to end, I dragged my feet to the gates entrance where I saw Ikuto waiting. I picked up my feet, just wanting to get this over. When I got closer to Ikuto I saw that he was leaning against the school gate.

"Your really slow," he said pushing his leg off the gate. "Well, you didn't have to wait , I already know where you live." I retorted. He started to walk away slowly and I had to catch up. "You know where Utau lives, you don't know where I live." Ikuto, suddenly stopped and pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket. He unfolded it and showed it to me.

It was the note that I stuck on his locker earlier today. _Dammit._

"What's with the shocked face?" Ikuto asked putting the note back in his pocket. "Why do you think it was me?" I asked, I could hear the fear in my voice.

"I know it was you because I know my hand writing, and I wouldn't threaten myself." Ikuto said putting the note back I his pocket. I didn't know what to say, ao I just looked down at the ground.

After a while, we started to walk again. We walked for about 10 minutes until we came across an abandoned amusement park.

"You live in an amusement park?" I asked, looking around the place. The rides and attractions were still here and looked like they could still work. If you got rid of the little rust and repainted them they would look like they did before.

"I live near the back so come on," when I looked over at Ikuto I saw him sitting on top if the fence. "Why are you on top of the fence?" I asked looking up at him. "This is the ony way to get there. Now give me your hand." Ikuto said lowering his hand to me.

I ignored his hand and climbed up the fence to sit across from him. He jumped down from the fence, landing on both his feet. He held his hand back out to me again, but I ignored it and jumped down my self. I didn't have that well of balance for a minute after I jumped.

"Where do we go now?" I asked leaning against the fence. "Across the park,"Ikuto said walking away again. We walked across the park until he stopped at a tree. I noticed that there was a ladder on the tree.

I watched Ikuto climb the ladder first. "How many things do you have to go through to get to your house? " I asked looking up at him. He turned his head to look at me,"I just have to walk here, climb the fence, walk across the park, and climb the ladder into the tree." Ikuto said carelessly, then started climbing again. _He says that like its nothing._

When Ikuto was more than half way up, I started climbing. When I got to the entrance of the tree house I noticed that it looks like a regular house. There was a pillow and a blanket on the floor in on corner, open boxes filled with clothes, and an instrument case and books in another.

"Would you stop staring and get in here." Ikuto snapped at me. I pulled myself fully in and sat down on the floor. Ikuto gave me a water bottle and sat across from me.

"Thanks," I mumbled, "What country do you want to do?" I asked taking a sip of the water.

"I don't know," Ikuto said standing up to lean on a wall. "Make a list of countries and pick which ever one you want to do." He told me, I already knew what he was trying to do.

I took a deep breath to calm myself, "I'm not going to do all the work."I said angrily. "Yeah, I'll help," I heard him mutter a _later_ under his breath. My anger got the best of me and I threw a pen at him.

"What?" Ikuto asked giving me a cold glare. "You need to do some form of work, give me a country." I said leaning over to get my pen. Ikuto put his foot over the pen and dragged it away from me. "You can't think of any countries, of course." He said taking a sip from his water bottle.

"I can think of countries, but I'm not going to do your work. And if I do all the work I'll make sure your name isn't on the project." I said trying to sound threatening.

"Your not scarring me, so what I get a 'f' on an assignment. Big deal." Ikuto said uncaring. "I don't care if you don't want a 'f', I don't want a 'f'. So if we fail I'm not going to be very happy." i said letting my anger leak into my voice.

"Why should I care about your happiness?" Ikuto said raising an eyebrow at me. I had a blank expression on my face. I don't know why I thought he should care.

"I dint know how to answer that." I said looking down at my hands. "Exactly, so if you make the list we won't fail." He said pulling out his phone.

I leaned my back kn the wall, grabbed my notebook and pretended to work. I colored the side margins for about 5 minutes, until I noticed Ikuto was looking at me.

"Amu, are you done yet?" Ikuto asked, not looking up from his phone. I didn't reply, I didn't_ want_ to reply. "Amu," I noticed the impatient tone in his voice, but I still didn't reply.

I heard his footsteps coming closer towards me and I looked up. He sat down in front of me and tilted the notebook towards him. "What have you been doing all this time?" He said the anger clear in his voice.

"The same thing you've done, nothing. I won't start until you do something." I said annoyed.

"Fine, countries Germany, Great Britain, France." He started making a list. I wrote down all the names and after ten I told him to stop.

"How many is that?" Ikuto mumbled. "Ten, which one is your favorite?" I asked watching him sit down next to me. He looked at the paper and was leaning on my shoulder a little. I don't know why, but I felt myself blushing. I just hope he didn't notice.

"We should do Australia," Ikuto said pointing at it. I slightly nodded and put two stars around it. "Should we do a dessert or a dinner?" Ikuto asked.

"I can't cook that well, but I can bake okay. I think it would be better if we do a dessert." I honestly said.

"Alright," Ikuto looked his phone out of his pocket to check something. I'm guessing the time. "We can look for a recipe tomorrow. Its starting to get late." Ikuto said standing up.

I grabbed my backpack from the floor, I noticed that he was holding his hand out to me. For the first time today I actually took his hand. He pulled me up and we left.


	5. Chapter 5

The sun was slowly setting over the horizon. I stood by the ladder of the treehouse looking at the reds and oranges in the sky. I looked over the old broken down rides of the amusement park, waiting for Ikuto to come down. _Why would a person choose to live here?_

I heard a thump and turned around to see Ikuto standing behind me. "Come on," Ikuto said walking ahead. I quickened my pace, trying to keep up to him.

We walked in complete silence, the only sound our feet hitting the gravel. We neared the fence and I noticed Ikuto slowed his pace. "Do you have anything breakable in your backpack?" He asked starting to climb the fence.

"No," I simply replied. By now Ikuto was sitting on top of the fence. He reached his hand down for my backpack. I took it off and handed it to him.

He hauled it across his body and tossed it over to the other side of the fence. I started climbing the fence, a distance away from Ikuto. Getting close to the top Ikuto grabbed my hand and pulled me up onto the fence.

Ikuto jumped down from the fence landing on his feet. Reaching his hand to me again, I grabbed it and jumped down from the fence.

I picked up my bag from the ground and turned to look at Ikuto. I took a deep breath, "So, do you want to work at my house next time?" I asked with a slight tremor in my voice. "We can work that out tomorrow," He simply said.

I was embarrassed about what to do next. I just looked down at my feet and held onto my backpack like it was a life preserver. I saw Ikuto's feet shift. I looked up to see what he was doing and saw him meet my gaze, honey gold eyes to midnight blue eyes.

"Are you walking with me?" I asked staring at him.

"Yeah," he said shifting his feet uncomfortably again.

I loosened my grip on my backpack and walked towards Ikuto. We started walking together in silence. Neither one of us wanting to break the silence.

I looked at the houses and neighborhood businesses that we passed. The broken down buildings that were soon to be demolished and the newly bought houses. I turned my head to look at Ikuto and decided to say something.

"Um, Ikuto" I said hesitantly. He didn't respond to me, just looked over at me. "Why do you live by yourself, in the amusement park?" I assumed looking straight ahead. I looked over to look at his expression and saw that he stopped walking. I stopped and turned around to look at him. "Why do you need to know?" Ikuto asked clearly getting annoyed. "It just that most people this age-"

"Why do you care?" Ikuto asked cutting me off. I already knew I was stepping over the line, but I wanted to know. "It's an honest question," I said pressing. I was _really_ stepping over the line now. His body was tensing up and he was clenching his teeth together. "I never ask you personal questions, why ask something personal about me?" He asked running a hand through his hair.

"Because you don't care!" I yelled at him. "Then why should you!" He yelled back at me.

I didn't know how to respond. I just stared blankly at him. "I'm sorry," I said quietly, barely even audible. I looked down at my shoes and tried not to look at him. "Come on," He said, walking ahead of me.

We continued walking; pretending like the other person wasn't there. We were back to silence; the only sound being heard was our footsteps on the gravel.

Finally, we were near my house. I picked up my pace, trying to get inside and forget all of this. I turned towards Ikuto, "Bye, Ikuto." I said in a soft voice. He turned his head towards me and gave a small smile.

I smiled back and walked to the front door. I took out my house key from my backpack and opened the door. Turning to close the door I noticed that Ikuto had already disappeared. I closed the door and dropped my stuff on the floor, letting out a long sigh.

**A/N I deeply apologize that this chapter is so late. A lot of things have popped up at once, but now I have a break and chapters will never be this late again. So, leave a review positive or negative.**


End file.
